Newlands’ octaves have many limitations. They are as follows:
- The law is applicable only up to calcium
- All known elements are fitted in a table of 7 X 8 that is 56 boxes
- Two elements were place each in some boxes to accommodate all the known elements in the table (For example, Co and Ni, Ce and La)
- Some elements with different properties under the same note in the octave. For example, Newlands placed the metals Co and Ni under the note ‘Do’ along with halogens, while Fe, having similarity with Co and Ni, away from them along with the non-metals O and S under the note ‘Ti’.
- Also, Newlands’ octaves do not have provision to accommodate the newly discovered elements.
- The properties of the new elements discovered later on did not fit in the Newlands’ law of octaves.